Words of Approval

            When I communicate to my husband that his work is good or pleasing to me either with a smile or words, it really does so much for him, and it is encouraging for me as a wife to know that this means so much to him.  It is fulfilling to encourage him. 

How I can know it is encouraging to my man to speak words of affirmation to him is that it is encouraging through affirmation for me to hear those words from him.  I know words of assurance are a relief to me, and it is a relief for everyone really, who needs that affirmation and approval.  My husband told me simply, “You’re doing a good job,” as he was relaxing on a chair after work.  He was referring to a chore I was in the middle of doing.  It just made me so content as I thought on his words as I finished the chore.  I wonder how content a husband must feel who hears similar from his wife?  I had heard before I was married that husbands respond so so very well to words of affirmation, and it’s so true I have found!  These words include words of submission, adoration, and affirmation.  These words are ultimately words of approval.  A man truly can live so much better with generous doses of words of affirmation from his wife each day!

I Am Not Perfect

I am not perfect.  I hope that many of you by my posts don’t think I have it all together.  I think that by writing on a topic, it helps me to think on it, and writing on a topic and thinking on a topic helps me apply it.  For that reason, I really enjoy keeping the blog, and I encourage wives at the same time by inviting wives to write guest entries.  

I am not writing to show “what a great person I am” (‘cause I’m not: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). 

I am aware that there are many encouraging-wife type blogs and websites out there!  I know this, because I have been encouraged by one in particular.  I am going to tell you about it very briefly and let you do the exploring.  It’s peacefulwife.com, and the subtitle is “The Joy of God’s Design for Wives and Marriage.”  I am so glad that I have come across this website.  I am so glad for growing and studying and encouraging my friends who are wives, and I am so glad that I was not expected to be perfect on day one of my husband’s and my marriage, ‘cause I certainly was not.  I am so glad for the space and opportunities and desires from God to grow more in the area of being a better wife than I was a week or month ago.

A Gift from God

           It is prideful for a wife to think that she when she is prudent is a gift from herself to her husband.   I have found that when I think that I am a gift, a gift from me not from God, I am relying on myself for my strength and energy, and that is not good.  But when I acknowledge that every good and perfect gift is from God, including myself when I am prudent, there is rest and peace for me, leaving what God’s Word says to be true and be only concerned with being pleasing to Him in every way by His power working in me.  
          A way that a wife can have a correct perspective is by focusing on being a giver.  A wife does not have to have a lot of money in order to be a giver.  There are lots of things every wife has that she can give that is not money.  A wife has lots of things in her possession, given to her by God that she can give to her husband, and they are time, love, care, peacefulness, diligence, work, and a safe place to rest.